When the Hamilton wrestling team faced Middleville during the regular season, the Hawkeyes were able to pull out a close four-point win.

They were unable to duplicate the feat on Wednesday night, however, as Middleville's Kyle Kraus recorded a pin in the final match at 171 pounds and held off Hamilton 40-31 in the Division 2 district semifinals.

"It was a good season overall," Hamilton coach Gregg Stoel said. "We gave up two or three (forfeits) in a lot of matches this year and we had good enough kids to overcome it most of the time. We didn't match up particularly well with Middleville tonight, and we didn't do very well in the bottom position.

"It was a hard position for a freshman to have to win the last match (in order to advance to the district final). (Hamilton 171-pounder Seth Buresh) is a kid that's gonna be a good wrestler someday, and I don't question his heart or how hard he worked. He was being aggressive and he just got caught in a headlock and taken to his back."

Hamilton, which finished its season with a 14-5 mark, jumped out to an early 18-0 lead thanks to pins from seniors Connor Dams (189 pounds), Drew Boerman (215) and Corey Hassevoort (285).

Senior Logan Welcher won a tough 11-9 match at 119 pounds for the Hawkeyes, but three pins and a win by forfeit at the lower weights gave Middleville a 27-21 edge going into the 140-pound match.

Hamilton's Jeremy Parkhurst scored a takedown late in the match, but was unable to bring Middleville's Austin Beardsley to the mat again in the waning seconds and lost 4-2.

A Middleville win at 145 pounds put Hamilton in a precarious position, but a major decision win (14-5) by Hamilton junior Trenton Holyfield at 152 and a quick pin (in 24 seconds) at 160 by Will Duimstra set up the dramatic 171-pound finale.

Despite his team's loss, Holyfield was proud he could help give them a chance at the end.

"Coach (Stoel) told me that the (Middleville) kid was gonna be tough, so I just did everything I could to score a lot of points and get more team points for us," said Holyfield, who has recorded more than 30 wins this season and lost just once. "In the last minute, I tried to work for the pin because I pretty much had the win secured. We knew the match was gonna come right down to the wire though because of how close we were when we had wrestled them before, and unfortunately, we just came up a little bit short."

Byron Center defeated Middleville 63-7 in the district finals and will move on to next Wednesday's team regionals at Hastings, along with Zeeland West, which won its district Wednesday.